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Libyan refugee arrested in Boulder again on suspicion of violating bond, probation

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
11/19/2014 09:05:20 AM MST

Updated:
11/19/2014 09:44:23 AM MST

Iman Al-Obeidi, who says she was sexually assaulted by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's men, is led away March 26, 2011, by authorities of the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, where she was coming to tell her story to journalists. She now lives in Boulder under the name Eman Ali. ( (Associated Press file photo)

Eman Ali, aka Iman al-Obeidi, as seen in her Boulder County Jail booking photo.
(Boulder County Sheriff's Office)

Libyan refugee Iman al-Obeidi has been arrested in Boulder for the fourth time in two years after prosecutors said she tested positive for alcohol and opiates, a violation of the conditions of her bond and probation.

Al-Obeidi, 32, who is currently living in Boulder under the name Eman Ali, turned herself in to Boulder police on Monday after a warrant was issued for her arrest on two counts of failure to comply.

In a court hearing this morning, prosecutors said Ali tested positive for opiates in September and could not provide a prescription, and also tested positive for alcohol in October. Ali at the time was both on bond for a pending assault case and on probation for a plea deal in a case from 2013.

Boulder Deputy District Attorney Catrina Weigel also said Ali missed four drug tests.

"She has some serious issues with substance abuse," Weigel said. "It is very concerning that she is not only on probation but on bond and continuing to use substances."

Defense attorney Harold Flowers said Ali had a prescription for the opiates found in her system and had made up the missed tests. He also said she had just gotten a job, but was supposed to start at noon today and likely would not be out of jail in time to show up for work and could therefore lose the job.

Ali appeared at the hearing in custody and was assisted by an Arabic interpreter.

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The warrant for the violation of bond originally set bond at $10,000 and the bond for the violation of probation at $5,000, but Flowers said that if the bond was reduced, the Libyan embassy would help bail Ali out of jail.

Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler agreed to set bond at $5,000 in the violation of bond case and to a $5,000 personal recognizance bond in the probation case. But he warned Ali that if she is accused of violating either her bond or probation again, he will hold her without bond until her trial.

"You've been given more chances than you probably deserve," Butler said. "This is the last chance from me to show that you are not a danger to the community while out on bond."

Ali is currently scheduled to stand trial Feb. 17 on charges of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and obstructing a police officer in an incident at the Bohemian Biergarten in February..

According to an arrest affidavit, a woman accidentally "brushed up" against Ali while in the bar that night and told police that Ali then said, "That is not OK in my country," and then poured a beer on her.

About a half hour later, the woman's friend said, Ali came back and threw a glass at her head, giving her a one-inch gash on her forehead that required four staples to close, according to court records.

In January 2013, Ali was arrested on suspicion of unlawful conduct on public property stemming from an incident in which an apparently intoxicated Ali was uncooperative and combative when taken to the Boulder County Addiction Recovery Center. That case was later dismissed.

In August 2013, officers were on patrol in the 1000 block of Walnut Street when they were flagged down by witnesses who pointed out a "stumbling" and "intoxicated" Ali, according to court documents.

Officers again tried to take her to the Addiction Recovery Center, but while she was getting in a squad car, Ali allegedly spit in one officer's face and chest, and then began kicking the officers, according to court records.

Ali was charged with felony second-degree assault on a police officer and misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest.

In September 2013, she pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree assault and was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered not to consume alcohol.

Ali was still on probation in that case when the alleged February assault took place.

Ali, under the name Iman Al-Obeidi, became the center of a media frenzy in 2011 after she stormed into a hotel room in Tripoli and told the international press there that she was raped after being detained at a security checkpoint.

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